


New Arrangements

by lily_pearl (lilyandjoey), lilyandjoey



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, HP: EWE, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-14
Updated: 2010-05-14
Packaged: 2017-10-09 10:53:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/86493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilyandjoey/pseuds/lily_pearl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilyandjoey/pseuds/lilyandjoey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of what should have been his final year at school, Harry is floundering. Luckily, Hermione has a 'saving people thing' too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Arrangements

**Author's Note:**

> EWE. Originally written for [](http://community.livejournal.com/hghpficexchange/profile)[**hghpficexchange**](http://community.livejournal.com/hghpficexchange/)

The end of the war saw a reshuffle not only of Wizarding society in general, but of personal lives and living arrangements. As is always the case, some had been hit harder than others by loss, injury and psychological trauma. When it became apparent that George intended to move back into the flat above Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Percy had volunteered to move in and take care of him. Ron had talked him out of it fairly quickly, reasoning that Percy wasn't ready to deal with George and that their mum and dad needed Percy more. Secretly, Hermione thought that Percy had only agreed out of shock at Ron's well-presented, mature and logical argument. Harry had insisted on moving into 12 Grimmauld Place and Hermione and Ginny had swiftly followed suit.

Hermione's fears that she would feel like a third wheel when Harry and Ginny inevitably got back together proved unfounded very quickly. Harry had retreated into himself, barely acknowledging the friends and surrogate family who visited frequently. The only person he really spoke to was Hermione. Despite Ginny's best efforts, Harry scarcely registered her presence and she moved back into the Burrow after three weeks.

The day after Ginny had left, Hermione took advantage of a visit from Andromeda Tonks and little Teddy and went over to the Burrow. Mrs Weasley fussed over her for a while expressing concern over whether Hermione was getting enough to eat. Eventually, conversation turned to Ginny who apparently hadn't left her bedroom since she got back. Hermione offered to go up and talk to her, neglecting to mention that that was the main reason for her visit.

She found Ginny lying face down on her bed in the clothes she had been wearing the previous day.

"Ginny?" she said tentatively.

Ginny sat up and blinked at Hermione blearily from under her hair which was tumbling messily over her face. She pushed it back and rubbed her eyes quickly.

"Oh, hi," she said sleepily.

"Look, Ginny …" Hermione started, but Ginny cut her off before she could begin the speech she had prepared.

"It's okay," Ginny assured her, "I get it. A lot has changed in the past year. I know that Harry and me … Well, it's just not going to happen. I'll come and visit but I'm not moving back."

"Okay," Hermione said.

She wasn't sure what else she could do so she got up to go. Ginny got up too and they hugged for a long moment.

"Look after him for me, yeah?" Ginny said suddenly.

"Of course," Hermione said sadly.

As she closed the door, Hermione could have sworn she heard Ginny saying softly 'He needs you'.

-0-

Six weeks went by following the same routine. Hermione would get up and shower, then check on Harry. Whilst he was showering she made breakfast. Random friends and acquaintances would then pop in sporadically throughout the day. Someone would usually turn up with lunch or dinner, so Harry and Hermione rarely had to prepare those meals themselves. They also rarely left the house. After two months, Hermione had decided that they were both going to go crazy if they didn't get out.

It took about an hour of coaxing to get Harry to agree to go out. She picked a little Muggle pub not far from the Leaky Cauldron, just in case Harry felt up to socialising. She tried not to let on that she felt a little uneasy wandering the streets of London at night. They were about a hundred yards from the pub when she realised that her feelings were not unfounded.

"We're being followed," she said conversationally, slipping her arm round Harry's waist as she did so.

Harry played along and dropped his arm round her shoulders.

"Are you sure?" he asked lightly, matching her tone.

"The only way to be certain is to stop and see if they pass us," she replied.

"That might look a bit odd," he said after a long moment's silence.

"You could stop to tie your shoelace," she suggested.

Harry thought for a moment.

"If they're going to attack us," he said carefully, "I don't really want to be crouching on the floor with my shoelaces undone."

"Good point," Hermione conceded.

They walked on in silence, passing the pub now. Going into a Muggle pub now was completely out of the question.

"You could kiss me," Hermione said and instantly regretted it when Harry tensed.

"You've been watching too much TV," he said.

"Got any better ideas," she said scathingly.

Harry slipped his arm from her shoulders and took her hand. Hermione followed without question as he led her into an alley. She felt his shield charm go up as he pushed her up against the wall. The next thing she knew he was kissing her. She tangled her hands in his hair and kissed back hard. His hands were moving over her body and she almost forgot about their mysterious stalker until she felt something rebound from Harry's shield. They broke apart and within seconds they were standing side by side, wands out and sizing up the situation.

A heavy-set figure in a black cloak and familiar mask was advancing towards them. It looked like he was already injured though and the duel was over surprisingly quickly. In mere minutes the two teenagers were standing over the unconscious form of a middle-aged man. Neither of them recognised him and he seemed to have been working alone. After a quick discussion, they agreed that neither of them wanted any attention. They dumped him, bound and unconscious in his full Death-Eater regalia, outside the Leaky Cauldron and sent up sparks so that he would be found quickly.

After that, neither of them really felt like going to the pub.

-0-

The next day, Hermione discovered that they had made the cover of the Daily Prophet. The headline proclaimed that an anonymous hero had apprehended a known Death-Eater and delivered him so that justice may be served. She snorted at the interpretation of the events and thought little of it. It wasn't until a week later, when the last of their daily visitors had headed home, that Hermione realised that Harry had taken a rather different view.

They were sitting at the kitchen table drinking mugs of hot chocolate when he showed her the story in last week's paper, his eyes lit up and he seemed to have a sense of purpose that he had been missing for the last few months. And he had obviously been thinking about this all week.

"Harry," she said softly, "it was self-defence. You can't go seeking them out."

He looked at her strangely then, as if he didn't really understand what she was saying.

"We can't just leave them out there, Hermione, what if they attack more people? I can't let anyone else get hurt."

"That's what the MLE are for, that's what Aurors are for," she reasoned, "you can't just go after people. You want to be some kind of vigilante!"

Harry stood as if to go and Hermione followed. She stood between him and the door, her hands on his chest to stop him.

"Stay here with me," she pleaded, looking up at him.

When he didn't respond, she leaned up on her toes and kissed him. If it hadn't been for their abortive trip to the pub it wouldn't have occurred to her to try it. (And it wouldn't have been necessary). He responded with the same passion as he had before. He took control of the situation quickly, manoeuvring her up against the kitchen door and pinning her in place. To her surprise, she let him. It felt good to relinquish control and let someone else be in charge for once, to not do any of the thinking. After what felt like hours, but could only have been a few minutes, they surfaced for breath and Harry led her though to the sitting room. They spent the rest of the evening lying entwined on the sofa, kissing and talking.

-0-

Hermione spent the next few weeks trying to distract Harry. For the most part, it was working. Their days followed the same routine. Hermione would get up and shower, then wake Harry. Some days he dragged her right back into bed. Once she had extricated herself, she made breakfast whilst he showered. Random friends and acquaintances would then pop in sporadically throughout the day. Someone would usually turn up with lunch or dinner, so they rarely had to prepare the meals themselves. Once everyone had gone they could barely keep their hands off each other. It had started with frantic kissing and hands roaming over clothes. That had soon progressed to hands roaming under clothes. Then, the fumbled removal of clothes. Hermione had gone with the flow, letting Harry do whatever he wanted. He wanted her a lot. All over the house. And he really seemed to like being in control.

She was reading in the library, trying (and failing) not to think about how Harry had had her on the desk not two nights before, when Bill walked in. He pulled up a chair and sat on it back to front. She deliberately didn't look up.

"I know what you're doing," he said abruptly.

Hermione carefully placed her bookmark between the pages and set down her book. She steeled herself before meeting his eyes.

"Do you?" she said calmly.

"Yes," he said firmly, "and it's not going to work in the long run."

She frowned at him.

"It's not healthy for either of you, Hermione," Bill said, his tone a little gentler.

"I don't know what you mean," she replied blankly.

"You're protecting him," Bill said, exasperation evident in his voice, "You can't keep him inside forever."

Hermione hoped that the wave of relief she felt didn't show. He didn't know.

"I know," she said with a sigh. "I just – I can't let him go out and get himself killed."

"You'll have to let him go eventually," Bill said as he got up and headed for the door.

-0-

Hermione thought about Bill's words over the next few days. She really wished he wasn't right. She may be providing Harry with a distraction but he was just funnelling his obsession and grief into his relationship with her. And she knew that her motives weren't entirely altruistic. She needed him just as much as he needed her. Staying indoors in their little world of two was tempting and wonderful and ultimately self-destructive. For either of them to get past the trauma of the last year they would have to start going out and moving on.

She decided that while their previous excursion had not gone well, perhaps going out during the day would be better. A few days later, before any well-meaning friends could pop by, Hermione persuaded Harry to go to the supermarket with her. They did a proper week's food shopping for the first time ever. They took turns pushing the trolley up and down the aisles and messed around until the security guard started giving them disapproving looks. For the first time in weeks, Harry seemed to have lost some of the intensity he carried around with him.

When they got back to the house he cheerfully helped her pack away the food and tidy the kitchen until there was a knock at the door. Hermione went to answer it and by the time she got back to the kitchen with Ron and George in tow, Harry was nowhere to be seen. Hermione carried on with the unpacking and chatted away, hoping that the strain wasn't showing. She knew it had been too much to expect a huge leap forward in one day, but she felt disheartened all the same.

She hadn't seen Ron very much over the last few months. It seemed that he was having a hard time getting George to go out too. Hermione felt a sudden wave of love for all the people who had come to visit them, realising (not for the first time) that they must have a very busy schedule of people to attend to. She hoped that they were looking after themselves as well as each other. She hoped it would get easier.

-0-

Over the weeks and months that followed, Hermione worked on gradually changing their routine. It was a slow process, but finally it was proving worthwhile. She didn't always shower first and she didn't always make breakfast either. She had subtly hinted to their regular houseguests that turning up announced was no longer appropriate and for the most part they seemed to have caught on. Harry seemed to respond better to company now that he knew when people were coming and he wasn't being constantly chaperoned. She had also discouraged people from bringing meals with them and instead she and Harry cooked together or took it in turns.

They had started going to the supermarket to do a weekly shop and gone to a few other places too. For the first time in her life, Hermione had moments when she felt normal. They had gone to London Zoo and she felt like an ordinary girl out for the day with her boyfriend. Harry had held her hand and bought her an ice-cream. They had laughed themselves silly at the antics of the monkeys and speculated about what the animals were thinking.

As things started to become more normal (whatever that was) she had worried selfishly that Harry wouldn't need her anymore. She had felt guilty about that of course because she should want him to be happy even without her. So far it didn't seem that way though. He still seemed to want her just as much as before and was as intense and aggressive in bed as he had been from the start and now he was openly affectionate when they ventured out into Muggle London.

She still felt on edge though, and it wasn't until it happened that she finally realised what she had been waiting (hoping) for. On a rare trip to Diagon Alley – walking down the street where anyone they knew could see – he took her hand and laced his fingers through hers. And he smiled.


End file.
